The Call
by heavyneos
Summary: (One Shot) The North hears the call
1. Chapter 1

Thirty five thousand men had marched south of their homes at the call of their lords; some would not march back north again, and as the dawn rose so did they, together in armour ranging from boiled leather to plate steel noble and baseborn both proud first men all assembled at the banner of the dire wolf, and on the eve of the battle against Prince Rhaegar the crowned prince if the Seven Kingdoms, formed into a mass of men ready for the charge, as the boggy terrain had eliminated the use of cavalry in this engagement.

As the mass of men moved into position they saw the large form of Robert Baratheon take the head of the Andal forces, he was a tank of man especially in his armour and puffed up like a peacock on parade and every man there felt the raging hatred burning from him, he slowly made his way to the front of the army with hammer in hand.

Deep in the ranks of the Northern army came a quiet song, started by one nervous man trying to stop the fear from showing

"C, Come the day and come the hour" he began quietly the song was an old one translated from the tong of the first men, the man beside him also fearful that this was his fated day herd him and took up the song, then the next man and the next it began to build 

"Come the power and the glory  
We have come to answer  
Our Country's call  
From the four proud provinces of Stark land"

Grate Jon smirked ruefully, and then he laughed his grate booming laugh as he joined the song loudly and proudly, he was proud of his first man heritage and loved "the call" as a child and sung it to his children as his father sung it to him and so on and so forth to the first Umber who legends told was a giant, friend and near blood brother to Bran the builder.

"First men, first men  
Together standing tall  
Shoulder to shoulder  
We'll answer the lupine's call"

Rickard Karstark shook his head and smiled "the call" had always reminded him of better times with his father and brothers a time when he was just the son of the sun of winter and not the lord, he added his own voice to the call as all of the Karstark's had since the Andals where repelled like the sea at low tide.

"From the mighty Glens of Wolfs wood  
From the rugged hills of Karhold  
From the walls of Last Hearth  
And the Crannog Swamps  
From the four proud provinces of the Stark lands"

Howland Reed was a proud son of the north and of the First men, he was taught "the call" was something his mother had taught him after his father had passed, she had said that it was his to teach to his children and that every true son of the north knew it, his voice was not loud or too soft but as he was taught every voice was equal in "the call".

"First men, first men  
Together standing tall  
Shoulder to shoulder  
We'll answer the lupine's call"

Roose Bolton as a youth had been taught a different version of "the call" than most, his father had called it "the true call" replacing the Karstarks and the Reeds with the Bolton's and the Grey Starks but with his own houses fall from grace and the destruction of the Grey Starks he understood why, though he vowed in his very sole to return his hose to prominence.

"Hearts of steel  
And heads unbowing  
Vowing never to be broken  
We will fight, until  
We can fight no more  
From the four proud provinces of Stark land"

Ned stood tall as "the call" sounded; his dreams had been dark of late, full of nightmares of the destruction of his land and house by the three headed dragon, a dream that had almost come true as his sister had been stolen by the Prince, and his father and brother had been butchered, slaughtered by the Mad king and his sole howled out for justice, for vengeance and for the deaths of those who had wronged him.

"First men, first men  
Together standing tall  
Shoulder to shoulder  
We'll answer the lupine's call"

Deep in the back his mind something bound had been loosed, and all the mercy and all of the false honour taught to him was beginning to bleed away, where was the honour in the south, there king had murdered a loyal lord who sought justice for crimes committed by his son and crowned prince of the realm, and for that he burned and his brother had strangled himself to death trying to save him.

NO MORE!

The North Remembered, the North remembered every slight and every insult, the North remembered every lost son and daughter, killed by the order of other men, men who knew nothing of the North or the true gods and Nothing of true winter, but they would learn for Winter, true Winter is Coming with all the fury and thirst of a pack of hungry Dire Wolfs and all of the rage of generations lost in the south, in foreign lands for foreign lords who jeered at them and thought them nought but Barbarians.

Ned gripped his sword tightly his knuckles white with sheer force in his grip, unsheathing the blade, a hand and a half sword decorated with wolf iconography, he raised it ignoring the looks from the Andal lords and nobles, he unleashed a howl for such power and volume that animals for miles hid in fear of the apex predator prowling the lands. Ned pointed his sword at the heart of the Targaryen forces, like a pack of ravenous beasts a range of howls roars and cries followed, and then Ned sprang into action running, at the head of the pack of deadly warriors and into history.


	2. Chapter 2

They called it the hour of the wolf, in one hour the mighty royal army had been eviscerated by the forces sworn to lord Stark with such a vicious brutality that not one man who escaped that day had ever forgotten how the north had fallen upon them and plucked the flower of the south. They took no prisoners and gave no quarter, not since the hungry would have prowled the world had such ruinous death been brought to Andal lands and it was said for generations after that to rouse the sleeping wolf was to court the stranger.

None alive had thought that the "quiet wolf" at Harrenhal was hiding such ferociousness, not even Jon Arryn the man's teacher and friend could have imagined what lurked deep beneath the icy facade, it was lord Stark himself that had felled the prince with one blow he cut the dragon from shoulder to hip and the leech lord Bolton that cut down Ser Barristan "The Bold" who had almost killed Rickard Karstark , when the battle had ended the north had lost five hundred men but the royal army had lost everything a great number of houses loyal only to the Dragons had been extinguished a whole generation of southrons noble and baseborn had been lost.

But it was Eddards actions after the battle that had been most infamous, he had ordered Lord Bolton to set an example of what happens to those who challenge the north every corpse had been stripped of their livery and armour and impaled it was said that the starks had raised a vast forest of woe at the heart of which one of the Reeds had planted a single weirwood tree that began to grow within a day and at war's end would be a full heart tree.

But the best and most repeated quote of those tremulous times comes from an unknown source attributed to Eddard Stark himself

"Through the blackest of battles rode the Lupine men, filling all hearts with fear and dread. Though time has passed since Wolfs have ravaged these lands, none will withstand Winters advance".


	3. Chapter 3

Wolf Bloodied Cold Hearted

When the full army of the rebellion came upon kings landing it was said that Eddard was ravenous and hungry for conquest, and pushed for the attack.

"Eddard please" sighed Jon wearily for what must have been the hundredth time as Eddard stalked the tent like a mad beast the fire in his blood preventing him from even a moment's rest.

"no we attack now" Jon could see Robert making this argument but before the slaughter at the crimson ford he never could have imagined Ned doing so

"Ned we have to give them a chance to surrender," said Robert trying to placate his wild friend

"why" he spat as the northern lords nodded in agreement "to satisfy some and sense of honour," he said "to allow the Mad king to escape"

"Ned the code of chivalry is very clear on this," said Jon in a manner trying to calm him down

"your code not mine," he said "your code that cost me a father and a brother and potentially a sister as well"

"the Lannisters have decided for us once their forces arrive we can begin final preparations to siege and storm the castle"

"F**k for preparations" Ned roared and left the tent followed by his entourage of Northern Lords, he headed towards his own encampment and into his war tent. He sat in a wooden chair with a table set with a map of the seven kingdoms sitting on it and enough chairs to seat every lord.

Nobody dared to speak as the watched Eddard lean forward his eyes locked onto the map, there were large three chess pieces carved into the emblems of the Lords rebelling against the Dragons sitting on the map surrounding a fourth carved into the shape of a three-headed dragon, then a harsh whisper broke the cold oppressive atmosphere that had settled over all who sat there

"lord Arryn may have a point," Bolton said shocking the lords as he continued "with the Lannisters here we would have enough troops to take the castle and make a run to the Stormlands to secure Storms end"

The rest of the Lords all nodded in response adding their own voice in agreement

"I have little care for what the summer lords want" he answered in voice so cold it was as if he had sucked the summer from the land "my sister may be in there being subjected to any amounts of torture and your solution is to wait for the lions"

"my lord it's not as if you can talk the Dragons into surrendering" the heavy voice of the GreatJon broke through the low rumble of the lords like the braking of a steel chain.

"talk them out?" Ned whispered "talk them out?" he said louder getting to his feet and charging out of the tent he grabbed one of his guards "Bring me my Horse"

"at once my lord," the man said running off Ned then grabbed another man

"bring me two banners the largest one we have one white the other a Dire Wolf"

"yes my lord"

"Ned?" questioned the Great Jon who looked at the man and smiled

"talk them out Jon," he said as the guards returned with the requested banners and Eddard's Dark Grey Charger, quickly Jon and the other lords also had their horses delivered to them as well as a cohort of guards to follow behind them questioning where they were going.

Ned mounted his horse with practised ease, a servant had handed him his ancestral sword Ice which he secured and grabbed the wolf banner making sure that Lord Reed had the parley banner before he kicked his horse into motion, he rode through the camp chest puffed out and looking like the very image of the regal Northern Lord.

As his did so Northern troops and horsemen rushed to get ready to follow war horns were sounded and drums here beat in rapid repetition to get men moving orders were shouted and the Andle camp was also in a state of panic as they thought the north was about to attack again.

Ned Road out oblivious to the chaos he had sowed in the camps and when he as just out of longbow range he stabbed his banner into the ground and grabbed the parlay flag and road forward at a much slower more casual pace then stopped.

"Who goes there" came a cry from the battlements

"Eddard Stark Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North"

"What do you want traitor"

"How resolved are you as this is the very last Parlay I will allow"

"we will fight for the true king to the last" the captain of the guards shouted back

"If I begin battle once again, I will not leave the combat half-achieved, I will not stop until within the ashes the city your king lies buried." Eddard roared "the very grace of mercy shall be cast asunder for the bloody heart of soldiers unleashed in the coldest of winters" he continued as his retinue grew more shocked and horrified by each word "we will mow your peoples like grass, your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants all one and the same, for what is the difference of one Andal to the next in my eyes, if you're so eager for Impious war then arrayed in the flames like your prince in the field, your prince of fiends, all fell deeds that keep awake the innocents in their beds in icy dread to waste and desolation invite yourselves, know that it is on your black conscience that this fell fate befalls you, if your Maidens fall into the hands of the ravenous hungry wolves of hot and forcing violation, then what rein can stop such licentious wickedness in their enraged feral hunger for spoil, therefore oh craven soul take pity on your city and your people, as yet the wolves in my command with cool and temperate winds of grace blows the hot boiling hunger for hate and villainy, can you not see that I hold such reins for then a with foul hand I could release the despoilers to defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters; your fathers taken by the fury of winter and there most reverend regretful heads dashed to the walls, your naked infants spat upon pikes, while their mothers mad with the howls of grief do break the clouds like the roar of thunder upon the fields of fire, What say you? will you yield, and this avoid, Or, guilty in defiance, be thus destroyed?"

What Eddard hadn't counted on was that his voice carried as if by the will of the gods to every point within the city and over the camps outside it, with every word the venom of his hatred seemed to steal the heart of summer from the land as cold winds swept through, it was said after that day by the witnesses that where Eddard stood was a man as cold as the winter he was born in, it was is he had channeled the spirit of the great other, the wind swept his head as if forming a crown of ice upon his head.

Within minutes, the city had surrendered.


	4. Chapter 4

(Who dares battle the Targaryens)

Lord Stark, Lord Stark, please take me with you  
The battle lies far to the south  
Lord Stark, Lord Stark, don't leave me alone  
I want to ride out on your quest  
I'm waiting, I'm waiting, to stand by your side  
To fight with you Down in the south  
They're calling, they're calling, I have to be there  
Northern land has to be freed

Fight the good fight  
Believe what is right  
Lord Stark, the Wolf of the Realm  
Fight the good fight  
With all your might  
Lord Stark, the Wolf of the Realm

We're marching, we're marching, to a land far from home  
No one can say who'll return  
For our Lady's sake, we'll take our revenge  
On the pagans from the South  
We North men are coming, with swords held on high  
United by faith and the cause  
The Southron heathen will soon taste our steel  
Our standards will rise 'cross the land

Fight the good fight  
Believe what is right  
Lord Stark, the Wolf of the Realm  
Fight the good fight  
With all your might  
Lord Stark, the wolf of the Realm

To battle, to battle, the Southron hordes  
We follow the Blood Wolf  
Onward, ride onward, into the fight  
We carry the sign of the Wolf  
Warlords of the North, Knights of the Realm  
Spilling their blood in the south  
Lord Stark, Lord Stark, the legend is born  
The future will honour your deeds

Fight the good fight  
Believe what is right  
Lord Stark, the wolf of the Realm  
Fight the good fight  
With all your might  
Lord Stark, the wolf of the Realm

(Come Northmen let battle commence)

Fight the good fight  
Believe what is right  
Lord Stark, the wolf of the Realm  
Lord Stark, the Wolf of the Realm

Fight the good fight  
Believe what is right  
Lord Stark, the wolf of the Realm  
Lord Stark, the Wolf of the Realm


End file.
